An apparatus for dosing a confectionery mass including a plurality of units for dosing a confectionery mass is known from European patent application No. EP 0 122 369 A2 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,978, Each one of the units for dosing a confectionery mass includes a rotary piston for alternatingly filling a dosing chamber with confectionery mass and removing the confectionery mass from the dosing chamber. For this purpose, the rotary piston is driven with respect to a base body in a rotational direction f. During its repeated rotation about 360°, the rotary piston can be stopped in two positions, namely at 12 o'clock and at approximately 8 o'clock.
The unit for dosing a confectionery mass includes an outlet valve which together with the rotary piston and a part of the base body forms a dosing chamber for containing the confectionery mass. In the opened position of the outlet valve, the rotation of the rotary piston in the rotational direction f leads to removing the confectionery mass from the dosing chamber through the opened outlet valve and through an outlet opening. In the closed position of the outlet valve, the continued rotational movement of the rotary piston in the rotational direction f then leads to confectionery mass from the mass supply being sucked into the dosing chamber.
The units for dosing a confectionery mass are located one after the other in the apparatus such that their rotary pistons have a common rotational axis.
An apparatus for pouring chocolate is known from international patent application WO 91/18518 A1. The apparatus includes a rotary piston which is driven in a reversing manner. The rotary piston is designed and arranged to simultaneously fill a first dosing chamber with chocolate and to remove chocolate from a second dosing chamber. The rotary piston thus has a combined filling and removing cycle. In addition to this first combined filling and removing cycle, a full working cycle of the apparatus includes an idle cycle. During this idle cycle, the entire dosing unit is rotated about 180° into a second position. Once the second position has been reached, a second combined filling and removing cycle takes place in which the rotary piston is now rotatingly driven in an opposite second direction of rotation. The rotary piston is designed as an elongated shaft substantially extending over the entire length of the apparatus. The apparatus thus only includes one rotary piston and only one dosing chamber.
An apparatus for dosing a confectionery mass is known from German patent application No. DE 10 2005 018 503 A1 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 8,974,202. The apparatus includes a plurality of units for dosing a confectionery mass being located side by side. Each of the units for dosing a confectionery mass includes a rotary piston including an opening. The rotary piston is designed and driven to rotate in a reversing way and to move back and forth in a translational way.